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Dana Loesch sues Breitbart.com LLC

Conservative commentator Dana Loesch on Friday sued the parent company of right-wing news website Breitbart.com, where she was once a star writer and editor.

The suit, filed in U.S. District court in St. Louis, Mo., and first reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, alleges that Loesch’s “poorly managed but well meaning relationship” with the media organization founded by the late Andrew Breitbart went “tragically awry” resulting “in the attempt by one vindictive party to sabotage the reputation and career of another.”

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Loesch contends that owner and operator Breitbart LLC bound her to “what amounts to indentured servitude in limbo” after she says she was forced to terminate her contract as the result of an “increasingly hostile” working environment. She says Breitbart LLC refused to allow her to write or blog for anyone else and would not publish her work on the site. The suit seeks at least $75,000 in damages and freedom from contractual obligations.

The messy split of two high-profile entities is sure to raise eyebrows in media circles in the left and right. Breitbart has recently hired new conservative faces in a bid to bolster its position as a fast-growing media company, while Loesch continued to raise controversy in her self-proclaimed role as “nationally recognized conservative talk radio host” and “speaker for the Tea Party movement.” She also appears frequently on CNN.

The network of websites founded by the late Andrew Breitbart includes biggovernment.com, bigjournalism.com and Breitbart TV. Breitbart died suddenly of heart failure in Los Angeles, Calif., in March. He was 43.

Emails to Loesch and a representative of Breitbart.com were not immediately answered.